Tag Archives: Jayhawks

Kansas basketball back in the top 5

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LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Bill Self tried to temper expectations surrounding fifth-ranked Kansas as the season began, pointing out all the big-name players lost to graduation and the NBA.

He didn’t fool his fellow Big 12 coaches. They picked the Jayhawks as co-favorites again.

Now, after rolling through their first seven conference games without a miscue, Kansas is in a familiar position. Missouri’s upset loss to Oklahoma State earlier this week created a two-game cushion in the standings heading into the Jayhawks’ game Saturday at Iowa State.

It’s the start of a brutal stretch that includes a home game against Oklahoma and back-to-back road games against the second-ranked Tigers and No. 6 Baylor.

“Statistically, those are the four teams that are the best in the league,” Self said. “As a matter of fact, I think they are the only four teams in the league with winning records, if I’m not mistaken. Besides us. So yes, without question, this is the toughest part of the season.”

The two-game lead may sound luxurious, but senior guard Tyshawn Taylor remembers what happened to Texas last season.

The Longhorns beat the Jayhawks at Allen Fieldhouse in late January, and then took a two-game lead when Kansas lost to rival Kansas State on Feb. 16. But the Longhorns eventually lost three of four to lose the lead, and the Jayhawks ultimately won their seventh straight league title.

“It’s always good to have a cushion, especially now,” Taylor said. “It’s good to have, but it really doesn’t mean much. Those are good teams and them being two games behind us, I’m sure they’re going to bounce back. We’re not going to be too giddy.”

The fact that Kansas plays four of its next six games on the road doesn’t help. The home team is 23-12 in conference play, with the Jayhawks and Tigers perfect. Five teams have yet to win on the road, including Texas Tech, which is winless in the Big 12.

“A two-game lead can be squandered quickly,” senior guard Connor Teahan said. “We still have to go out there and take every game seriously and I think that’s what we’ll do Saturday.”

The Cyclones gave Kansas all it could handle when the teams met in Lawrence. Behind the superb play of Royce White, Iowa State controlled the tempo of the game well into the second half, when the Jayhawks finally pulled ahead and won 82-73.

“I thought we played a little — ‘soft’ is not the right word, I’m not saying that, but I didn’t think we were as active or as energetic,” Self said this week.

While the Jayhawks (17-3, 7-0 Big 12) have won 10 straight since a surprising loss to Davidson in Kansas City, the Cyclones (14-6, 4-3) have positioned themselves for an NCAA tournament run. They beat Oklahoma State and Texas Tech after losing to Kansas.

“Trust me, Iowa State should have our full attention after the way they handled us for 25 minutes, or whatever it was, at our place,” Self said. “When you go on the road, it’s going to go down to the last few possessions, usually, if you play well. Certainly, I hope we’re in that position again Saturday.”

If not, that two-game lead in the Big 12 could be trimmed in half.

“We’ve done some good things on the road,” Self said, “but I don’t think we’ve had a performance on the road that would guarantee us winning. I think we’ve got to get better.”

Dayne Crist heading to Kansas

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Dayne Crist’s final collegiate season will come in a Kansas uniform.

Crist, the former Notre Dame quarterback, announced Thursday via Twitter that he will go to Kansas after a nearly three-week selection process following the release from his Notre Dame scholarship.

“After a long & difficult decision making process, I’m incredibly excited to join the Kansas football team. Rock Chalk Jayhawk!” Crist posted on his Twitter account, @dcrist10, at 11:59 a.m. ET.

In Lawrence, Kan., Crist will be reunited with new Jayhawks coach Charlie Weis, who recruited Crist out of Notre Dame (Calif.) High School, where Crist was ESPNU’s No. 2 quarterback prospect. Weis also coached Crist as a reserve in the signalcaller’s first two seasons in South Bend before the coach was fired and replaced by Brian Kelly.

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Charlie Weis hires Powlus and Grunhard at Kansas

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LAWRENCE, Kan. — Charlie Weis has begun assembling his coaching staff at Kansas, hiring Ron Powlus to tutor quarterbacks and Tim Grunhard to work with the offensive line.

The announcements came Tuesday, four days after Weis was introduced as the Jayhawks’ head coach.

Powlus and Grunhard both have ties to Notre Dame, where Weis spent five seasons as coach.

Powlus played quarterback for the Fighting Irish from 1994-97, and he served as director of player development and quarterbacks coach for Weis in South Bend. Powlus has been at Akron the past two seasons.

Grunhard played for Notre Dame before an 11-year career with the Kansas City Chiefs. He’s been head coach at Bishop Miege High School in suburban Kansas City.

Running backs coach Reggie Mitchell is returning from Turner Gill’s staff.

Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press

Kansas guard Tyshawn Taylor has surgery

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Kansas guard Tyshawn Taylor had surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee Sunday and could be out up to three weeks.

Taylor hurt the knee early last week but played through the injury in the 13th-ranked Jayhawks’ 78-67 victory over No. 2 Ohio State on Saturday. After the game, coach Bill Self disclosed the torn meniscus and said Taylor also had a sprained MCL in the same knee.

“I spoke with the doctors and it went as well as expected,” Self said Sunday. “He will be up and around tomorrow morning and will be back in the shortest time possible. The time for recovery depends on swelling and how he reacts to rehab.”

Taylor is the Jayhawks’ leading returning scorer and is averaging 15.9 points and 4.7 assists. He had nine points and a career-high 13 assists against the Buckeyes.

ESPN

Kansas fires coach Turner Gill

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Turner Gill arrived at Kansas after taking a perennially downtrodden program at Buffalo to unimaginable heights. He’s leaving after a two-year stretch in which the Jayhawks slipped back to their familiar place in the Big 12 cellar.

Gill was fired Sunday after a meeting with Athletic Director Sheahon Zenger, one day after the Jayhawks lost 24-10 to rival Missouri and finished the season 2-10.

“After a thorough evaluation of our football program, I have concluded that new leadership is necessary to place us on the path toward competing for championships in the Big 12 Conference,” Zenger said in a statement. “I come to this conclusion reluctantly, because I have the utmost respect for Turner Gill as a quality individual who wants only the best for the young men he coaches.”

Gill was hired by Zenger’s predecessor, Lew Perkins, and given a five-year, $10 million contract that was befitting of a high-profile coach. But he never lived up to the expectations that came with it, losing the first game he coached at Kansas to lower-division North Dakota State.

The high-water mark came in Gill’s second game, when the Jayhawks stunned then-No. 15 Georgia Tech last season. But that was the only victory over a ranked team, and Kansas would lose 17 of the next 21 with Gill on the sideline, the lone conference win coming against a Colorado program that fired its coach immediately after the defeat.

Fielding one of the youngest teams in the Big 12, Gill got the Jayhawks off to a promising start with wins over McNeese State and Northern Illinois, which has gone on to finish 9-3 and will play Ohio for the Mid-American Conference championship on Friday.

But things unraveled quickly in a 66-24 defeat at Georgia Tech, the start of 10 consecutive losses that included some of the most embarrassing in the history of a program accustomed to losing.

The Jayhawks were routed 70-28 by Oklahoma State, which pulled most of its starters at halftime, and 43-0 at Texas, when they managed 46 yards of total offense. They blew a 24-3 fourth-quarter lead against Baylor, allowed Texas A&M to score 61 points in just three quarters, and blew a 10-0 first-half lead against Missouri in what could be the final game of their 120-year-old rivalry.

Gill, a former star quarterback at Nebraska, said afterward that he expected to be back for a third season, which is how long it took him to turn the program at Buffalo into a winner.

“I do think we made good progress,” he said. “I guess it may be we have more to go than we anticipated, including myself coming in. I just think we can still get some things done here and move this program the right direction and do the things we need to do, win games and win bowl games.”

It’ll be up to someone else to accomplish those goals.

Zenger said that Kansas will honor Gill’s contract, which still owes him about $6 million. The search for a replacement will begin immediately, while running backs coach Reggie Mitchell — who also served as Gill’s recruiting coordinator — will take over on an interim basis.

“I have no specific timetable,” Zenger said. “Naturally I would like to have a new coach on board as soon as possible.”

There is expected to be a broad pool of candidates. Former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach and former South Florida coach Jim Leavitt both have ties to the Big 12, and Southern Miss coach Larry Fedora and Houston coach Kevin Sumlin have taken mid-major programs to national prestige.

Whoever is chosen will take over a program that went 12-1 and won the Orange Bowl in 2007, and finished the season ranked No. 7 in the AP poll. But he’ll also take over a program that, like those at North Carolina and Duke, resides firmly in the shadow of the school’s basketball program.

Kansas returns most of its playmakers next season, which should help to jumpstart the rebuilding.

Sophomore quarterback Jordan Webb had a few bright moments in his first season as the starter, sophomore running back James Sims and freshman Tony Pierson carried much of the load on offense, and junior Toben Opurum emerged as one of the defense’s brightest stars in just his second season since switching from fullback to defensive end.

“We’ve shown glimpses this season of how much we’ve improved,” Webb said. “We’re bringing a lot of people back, so we feel like we’ve got a chance to be a really good team.”

Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press

Kansas, Missouri to meet for perhaps final time

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Gary Pinkel will be back on the sideline for Missouri after serving a one-game suspension. Turner Gill will be on the Kansas sideline wondering whether he’ll have a job next season.

Oh, and the Tigers and Jayhawks will be meeting for the 120th time on Saturday at Arrowhead Stadium, and quite possibly the final time. Missouri is headed for the SEC after this season, and Kansas repeatedly has said it has no intention of playing out of conference.

So there are story lines galore forming the backdrop for the annual Border War, a series that began in 1891 but in reality traces its roots all the way back to the Civil War, when pro-slavery secessionists from Missouri clashed with anti-slavery Unionists from Kansas.

“As a legacy, people are always going to talk about the last game played, so I think that is what brings about a little more significance to this game,” Gill said. “It’s the last opportunity to play in this type of situation, so it is very, very meaningful.”

Pinkel will be calling the shots for the Tigers after missing last week’s win over Texas Tech as part of the punishment handed down for a drunken driving arrest.

Pinkel, who is 6-4 against the Jayhawks, returned to work Thursday after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge. The coach received a 30-day suspended sentence and two years’ probation, along with penalties handed down by the school that could cost him as much as $306,000.

“I’ve taken full responsibility for my lack of judgment and poor decision,” Pinkel said. “Now it’s up to me to begin earning everyone’s trust and respect back.”

That starts with Saturday’s game against Kansas.

The Tigers began the season ranked in the Top 25, but plummeted after an overtime loss at Arizona State. It was the start of a rough stretch in which the Tigers later lost 38-28 at then-No. 1 Oklahoma and 24-17 at Kansas State.

The Tigers (6-5) also lost at Oklahoma State and by a field goal at Baylor, leaving some wondering whether they would even become bowl eligible this season.

Missouri took care of that last weekend against Texas Tech, rallying from a 14-0 hole with a late touchdown and interception without its head coach on the sideline.

“I think we came together because of the foundation that Gary Pinkel has built,” said defensive coordinator Dave Steckel, who filled in as coach. “He has built it on a rock.”

Missouri will be headed for its seventh straight bowl game regardless what happens Saturday, just the kind of sustained success that Gill hopes to achieve at Kansas.

The second-year coach has been under fire all season, nine straight losses raising questions about his job security, despite three years and $6 million left on his contract.

Among them are a disheartening 13-10 loss to Iowa State and an overtime loss to Baylor in which Gill opted to go for the 2-point conversion and the win rather than kick the extra point and head to a second overtime.

But it’s not the close losses that have drawn the ire of Jayhawks fans. It’s been the lopsided ones, the 66-24 loss at Georgia Tech, the 70-28 defeat at Oklahoma State and last week’s 61-7 loss to Texas A&M — the Aggies scored all their points in the first three quarters before pulling starters.

“I expect to be here for a long time,” Gill said earlier this week.

Kansas athletic director Sheahon Zenger has said he’ll wait until after the season to make a decision about the program’s future, which means Gill could be coaching for his job Saturday.

He couldn’t have a much bigger stage.

Kansas and Missouri are such bitter rivals that they can’t even agree on the series record; the Jayhawks believe it’s tied, 55-55-9, while the Tigers claim a 56-54-9 lead, owing to a disputed 1960 game in which Kansas won using an ineligible player.

Missouri coaches have claimed over the years that they would rather push their cars back across the state line if they ran out of gas than buy it in Kansas.

Likewise, one Kansas coach years ago claimed that the Confederate guerrilla William Quantrill, who led a bloody massacre against Lawrence in 1863, graduated from the University of Missouri — it wasn’t true, of course.

“When I choose to commit to KU, I got teased and heckled a lot,” said Kansas defensive end Richard Johnson, who is from Jefferson City, Mo.

Kansas quarterback Jordan Webb, who hails from Union, Mo., has an aunt who was a cheerleader at Missouri. He said friends back home wished him luck when he headed off to college — with the caveat that they would root bitterly against him whenever he played Missouri.

“It adds to the magnitude of the game,” Webb said. “We know it’s for all the marbles and bragging rights for however many years to come. We’re definitely going to take it to heart and come out and play inspired on Saturday.”

Copyright Associated Press

Kansas football continues to build foundation

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LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Turner Gill ardently believes the foundation has been laid at Kansas, despite all the struggles that have come with his first two seasons in charge.

The Jayhawks need to beat rival Missouri on Saturday to finish with three wins for the second straight year, and although Gill insisted again Tuesday that he’s not concerned about his future, the rumblings that he won’t be around to see the fruits of his labor are growing louder.

Kansas lost a heartbreaker on the road to Iowa State three weeks ago, and then blew a three-touchdown lead in an overtime loss to Baylor, when Gill gambled by going for a 2-point conversion and the victory and the Jayhawks were unable to execute. Then came last week’s debacle at Texas A&M, when the Jayhawks were routed 61-7 in a game in which the Aggies could have easily named the score.

“Yeah, there’s frustration,” said Gill, who has three years and $6 million remaining on his contract. “But we have a good foundation here. We’re on the right track. The first two years are your foundation years, you put down what you want to accomplish.”

Gill said he’s modeled the rebuilding job at Kansas after what Kirk Ferentz accomplished at Iowa.

The Hawkeyes had fallen on hard times in the last few years under Hayden Fry, and Ferentz came to town and basically started all over. He recruited the same kinds of kids that Kansas must target — often the overlooked and undersized ones that slip under the radar at high-profile schools — and then slowly built the depth needed to compete in a rugged conference like the Big Ten.

Just like Gill, Ferentz found the going tough early on.

Iowa won a single game his first season in charge, and only three games in Year 2, putting him on roughly the same pace that Gill is experiencing at Kansas. But the administrators at Iowa had enough confidence to stick with Ferentz, who rewarded them with an Orange Bowl appearance two years later.

“I kind of see us in that mold. I’m not saying we’re identical in how we approach things, but there are some similarities,” Gill said. “The foundation is laid, and I think you get into the third and fourth years as a staff, those wins, those are the things that are going to take place.”

Kansas athletic director Sheahon Zenger, who was hired after Gill and thus had no part in selecting him to replace Mark Mangino, vowed in late October that “we will get this thing fixed.”

Zenger has also said he won’t make a decision on whether to keep Gill, whose contract is guaranteed, until after the season. That comes with the final border showdown Saturday between the Jayhawks and rival Missouri, which is leaving the Big 12 for the SEC after this season.

“I see everybody getting better. It doesn’t really matter what other people are saying because we can see it,” wide receiver Christian Matthews said. “Confidence-wise, execution — there’s things we’ve struggled with as a team, but those are the things I can see where we’ve gotten better.”

All season, Gill has been preaching about getting better each practice, each game, with the anticipation of finally being able to string together a series of victories. But with those chances dashed, Kansas (2-9) can turn its attention to only one thing: beating Missouri.

The Tigers (6-5) will be playing for bowl position, and have coach Gary Pinkel back on the sideline after serving a suspension last week for a drunken-driving arrest and guilty plea. Missouri is also trying to salvage a disappointing season that began with a lofty national ranking, but took a hit starting with a road trip to Arizona State and never quite got back on track.

The Jayhawks? Well, they’re playing for a program-building victory, and perhaps Gill’s job.

“It’s crossed my mind,” said linebacker Steven Johnson, when asked whether he understands that this could be the final game Gill coaches at Kansas.

“Coach Gill is a really good coach,” Johnson said, “he just needs a little bit of time. It’s hard to turn a program around. It’s been disappointing, and I don’t know what to put my finger on, but it’s all about the little things. We have to put our best foot forward.”

There’s no alternative, not with the season ending after Saturday’s game at Arrowhead Stadium.

“We at least want to go out on a high note,” said sophomore quarterback Jordan Webb. “It’s our Super Bowl, it’s our championship game.”

Copyright Associated Press

Kansas could have tough year ahead

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It’s not even close to panic time in Lawrence. So don’t go that far just yet.

But there is a reality that might be setting in early here in the 2011-12 season: This year, Kansas might not belong with the so-called ‘elites’ in the college basketball ranks.

It wasn’t that Kentucky picked apart Kansas on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden with a superior game plan or veteran savvy. Both teams were sloppy. But with that said, it was simply talent that won out in a 75-65 Wildcats victory.

The Jayhawks, right now, are good, but not great. In terms of the overall talent at Bill Self’s disposal, it’s likely the thinnest team KU has put on the floor since the 2000-01 campaign, which oddly enough had its season ended by a Self-led Illinois team in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

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Kansas suspends 2 for exhibition games

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LAWRENCE, Kan. — Kansas guards Tyshawn Taylor and Elijah Johnson have been suspended for violating team rules and will miss both of the No. 13 Jayhawks’ exhibition games.

Coach Bill Self declined to discuss the specific violations Sunday, but he did say they occurred during the offseason and that both players “have been terrific since school began.”

They’ll miss exhibition games Tuesday night against Pittsburg State and Nov. 8 against Fort Hays State.

Taylor is the Jayhawks’ leading returning scorer after averaging 9.4 points and 4.6 assists last season. Johnson started six games a year ago and is their best returning outside shooter.

Kansas opens its regular season Nov. 11 against Towson.

Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press

Kansas noncommittal on Turner Gill’s future

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Speculation has swirled in recent weeks that Turner Gill‘s brief time as Kansas’ head coach could be coming to an end much sooner than anyone ever anticipated.

One columnist went so far as to write that the second-year coach and the football program should be put out if its misery in the here and now, with the elixir for what ails the Jayhawks being the man Gill replaced.

There’s certainly something wrong in Lawrence when it comes to football. Thus far this season, the Jayhawks are just 2-5 overall and winless in Big 12 play. They’ve lost their conference games by an average of 30 points a game, including Saturday’s 59-21 Sunflower Beatdown at the hands of in-state rival Kansas State.

Full story at College Football Talk

Short-handed Kansas again favored in Big 12

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kansas lost six key players from last year’s team and had three incoming freshman declared academically ineligible. The Big 12 preseason coaches poll still picks the Jayhawks in a tie with Texas A&M to win the conference title.

Kansas coach Bill Self joked Thursday that he always thought coaches knew more about basketball than reporters, but now he’s not so sure.

The Jayhawks return only two main players from last year’s Big 12 title team, point guard Tyshawn Taylor and forward Thomas Robinson. They are down to only 10 players altogether, and only eight who are on scholarship.

Texas A&M returns several key members of the squad that earned a school-record sixth straight NCAA tournament, including senior David Loubeau and forward Khris Middleton. They’ll be coached by first-year man Billy Kennedy, who came over from Murray State.

Brock Berglund will not practice with KU

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LAWRENCE, Kan. — Highly touted freshman quarterback Brock Berglund will not practice with Kansas this season, even though coach Turner Gill said he remains a part of the program.

Gill announced the decision in a brief statement Tuesday. He also announced sophomore running back Deshaun Sands has been dismissed from the program after violating team rules.

“Due to legal issues, Brock will no longer be attending practices with the team this fall,” Gill said. “He will remain enrolled as a KU student, and plans to resume all team activities in the spring semester.”

The 6-foot-4 Berglund was being counted on to help turn around a program that has struggled significantly the past few seasons. But he’s been dealing with legal issues at home in Colorado, where he pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor assault charge after allegedly punching a man during a party.

Berglund was on campus for a portion of spring practice, then was back in Kansas for the start of camp this fall. Gill said he consulted with Berglund and his parents before deciding the quarterback would not be a part of the team for what will amount to a redshirt season.

“We both discussed it, and I say both, I mean myself and him and a little bit his parents, and we just decided it was in his best interests to take care of his legal issues,” Gill said.

Gill announced last week that sophomore quarterback Jordan Webb will be the starter when the Jayhawks open their season Sept. 3 against Eastern Kentucky. Quinn Mecham will back him up.

Sands, whose father Tony played for Kansas, played in 10 games as a redshirt freshman last season, gaining 211 yards on 55 carries with a touchdown. He was the top scout team player the previous year.

Sands had fallen on the depth chart early in fall camp. James Sims is firmly entrenched as the starter with freshman Darrian Miller backing him up, and Brandon Bourbon has joined the mix after missing all of last season with a broken ankle from spring camp.

“We have confidence in all of our running backs,” Sims said. “We know there’s a lot of competition there, so you just have to make the most of your chances, whenever the coaches give you the ball.”

Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press